Butter Melts at 36,6

Butter Melts at 36,6 explores intimacy as an act of trust, vulnerability, and mutual presence in a time when human relationships are increasingly shaped by distance, performance, and digital communication. Created in bedrooms, kitchens, and other domestic spaces, the project portrays people in moments of emotional and physical openness, where ordinary gestures become expressions of care and connection. Each encounter is based on reciprocity: participants are invited to photograph the artist in return, transforming the photographic act into a shared experience rather than a one-sided observation. By dissolving the boundary between photographer and subject, the work questions who holds the gaze, who becomes visible, and how intimacy can be experienced beyond conventional ideas of portraiture. More than a collection of portraits, the project is an ongoing exploration of closeness, tenderness, and the fragile conditions that allow genuine human connection to emerge.

Katerina Kouzmitcheva is a Polish photographer of Belarusian origin based in Wrocław, working at the intersection of documentary and art photography. Her practice explores intimacy, memory, identity, and the invisible political and social forces that shape human relationships. She holds MA and PhD degrees in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and is a member of Women Photograph. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Les Rencontres d’Arles, and featured in publications such as British Journal of Photography, Bird in Flight, Monovisions, and Dodho.